It seems every good baseball team is that way. The season is too long for just a few players to carry the team.

It's true of this year's Tigers. Some did much more than others, but almost everyone who played did something. Here is at least one standout performance per player that deserves to be remembered:

Al Alburquerque: On Sept. 29 at Minnesota, when a 6-0 lead slipped to 6-4, he got the final two outs of the eighth inning. The Tigers held on for the win that increased their lead on the White Sox to two games with four left.

Alex Avila: In the season's third game, April 8, with the Tigers losing by a run to the Red Sox in the 11th, Avila hit a two-run home run for the win.

Duane Below: Doug Fister left the season's second game with an injury in the fourth inning. Below relieved him and didn't allow a run in his 2 1/3 innings for his first career win.

Joaquin Benoit: On June 9-10 in Cincinnati, as the Tigers got the wins that began their climb from their season low to the World Series, Benoit guarded one-run leads with scoreless eighth innings.

Quintin Berry: He pinch-ran against Toronto in the bottom of the 11th inning Aug. 23, and everyone knew he would try to steal. He did, and moments later he scored the winning run.

Brennan Boesch: He's not playing now, but neither are the White Sox, in part because of Boesch. Each of his final three homers of the season was a crucial piece in a win over the White Sox.

Miguel Cabrera: In the third game of the season -- the game Avila won in the 11th -- he hit a tying three-run homer in the ninth off Boston.

Phil Coke: In the championship series, he got the biggest out when he fanned Raul Ibanez to end Game 3 and give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

Andy Dirks: His takeout slide at second Sept. 26 against Kansas City prevented an inning-ending double play and allowed the winning run to score.

Octavio Dotel: He replaced Jose Valverde after Valverde let a 4-0 lead get away in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the championship series. With all of Yankee Stadium ready for a victory by the home team, Dotel blanked New York for 1 1/3 innings, leading to the Tigers' 12-inning victory.

Darin Downs: On Sept. 18, one day after the Tigers lost to the White Sox and fell three games out, Max Scherzer left after two innings against Oakland because of shoulder weakness. Downs relieved him and pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. The victory began the 10-4 streak that carried the Tigers to the Central Division title.

Prince Fielder: His two homers Aug. 17, one to create a tie, the other to break it, beat the resolute Orioles.

Doug Fister: Although he didn't get credit for the win, he set the foundation for a late September win over Kansas City when he struck out nine straight hitters, 10 total.

Avisail Garcia: In the biggest play of the Tigers' season so far, the rookie rightfielder threw out Coco Crisp at the plate in Game 2 of the division series against Oakland. Without that play, the A's might well have won Game 2 and thus might have won the series in four games, before Justin Verlander had a chance to pitch the decisive Game 5.

Omar Infante: His beautiful stop and glove-hand flip to second base preserved the Tigers' 1-0 lead in what became the clincher in Kansas City. They scored five runs in the next inning to take command.

Brandon Inge: On April 16 in Kansas City, he hit his only Tigers homer of the season, a two-run drive that became the difference in Verlander's 3-2 win.

Austin Jackson: His running catch, amazing even by his standards, denied Toronto the go-ahead run in the 10th on Aug. 23. The Tigers won in the 11th.

Don Kelly: He hit the ninth-inning sacrifice fly off strikeout artist Grant Balfour that beat Oakland in Game 2 of the division series.

Gerald Laird: On the night the Tigers had their first chance to clinch the Central Division, his three-run double in the sixth expanded their lead on Kansas City from 3-0 to 6-0. His hit became the difference in the 6-3 win.

Jhonny Peralta: One night after his two errors admitted the winning run at Wrigley Field, his double was the big hit in a win over the Cubs on June 13.

Rick Porcello: On April 15, he prevented a White Sox sweep in Chicago by allowing one earned run in 7 2/3 innings. He beat Chris Sale.

Ryan Raburn: He hit one homer this season, but it was important. It was a three-run drive off Jake Peavy as the Tigers came back from a 6-0 deficit to win in Chicago in mid-May.

Anibal Sanchez: With his three-hit, 2-0 win over Kansas City on Sept. 25, he allowed the Tigers to catch the White Sox. The Tigers never fell out of first again.

Ramon Santiago: With the Tigers a season-low six games below .500, he hit a solo homer in what became a one-run win at Cincinnati on June 9. This game marked the start of the Tigers' long climb toward where they are now.

Omir Santos: The much-traveled catcher wasn't here long, but on June 2 his ninth-inning sacrifice fly drove in the winning run against the Yankees.

Max Scherzer: On Sept. 1, he beat the White Sox by blanking them for eight innings. He allowed four hits and struck out nine. The win was the difference between the Tigers moving within a game of the White Sox and falling three behind.

Drew Smyly: In Yankee Stadium -- where he stopped the Tigers' five-game losing streak with his first career win in April -- the rookie left-hander beat the Yankees in Game 1 of the championship series with two scoreless innings in relief.

Jacob Turner: With first place at stake July 22, he beat the White Sox for his first win. The next day, he was traded to the Marlins as the centerpiece of the deal that brought Sanchez and Infante.

Jose Valverde: The Tigers' climb back from their season-low six games below .500 began in mid-June with a pair of one-run wins in Cincinnati. Valverde saved both in a hitters' park against the team that wound up running away with its division.

Justin Verlander: After the Tigers got swept in a doubleheader by Minnesota with 1 1/2 weeks left in the season, he put them back on course the next night by going eight innings to beat Kansas City.

Brayan Villarreal: Those two wins Valverde saved in Cincinnati? Villarreal was the winner in both.

Danny Worth: On July 21 against the White Sox, a game with first place at stake, Worth blooped a two-out hit in the fifth and scored the go-ahead run on Jackson's double.

Delmon Young: After manager Jim Leyland had bemoaned the night before that the Tigers needed someone to hit the ball in the gap with a few runners on base, Young did just that to clear the bases in the seventh inning to break a tie and beat the White Sox on Aug. 31.

Contact John Lowe: 313-223-4053 or jlowe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freeptigers.